Beck: Morning Phase

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Beck has gone soft-rock for his first album proper in six years, and it has more in common with Randy Newman and Harvest-era Neil Young than the hip influences (Serge Gainsbourg and Scott Walker) of previous releases. A banjo, the most unstylish instrument in the history of music, opens the poignant but oddly uplifting Blue Moon, as Beck sings, “I’m so tired of being alone”. Beck suffered a spinal injury in 2008 — perhaps enforced solitude gave him the space to write a song as beautiful as Turn Away, a Simon & Garfunkel-like blend of simple acoustic guitar and harmonising